


Four Alarm Symphony: Muted and Burned Out

by Gracerr5



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, i wrote this a year ago and all the shoot week hype inspired me to post it, root is dead (or is she), shaw expressing grief, slightly AU because Reese is alive and kicking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:19:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gracerr5/pseuds/Gracerr5
Summary: Root is dead and Shaw is trying her best to carry on, but sometimes the memories come to strongly.akaShaw misses Root a lot and then there are flashbacks of their previous interactions both on and off screenAUTHOR WARNING: I have NO idea if I'll finish this





	Four Alarm Symphony: Muted and Burned Out

**Author's Note:**

> So I started writing this about a year ago and I went all in. I watched every clip Root and Shaw were in together and I analyzed it heavily to put together chapter. I'm also going to put things in that aren't show on tv (not in this chapter, but it's coming). But that's a lot of work and ya girl is lazy. I'll be real, if this gets feedback I'll write more but if it doesn't then I won't even bother.

  
**This is kind of a prologue I wrote for Shaw just to kind of show you guys where she's at mentally.**

The anger is strongest. She's felt the anger her whole life. It's familiar, comforting even. The anger fills her up inside.

But there's also something new. It's disconcerting. It brings strange liquid to her eyes and makes her heart thump uncomfortably in her throat. She remembers feeling a muted version of this when her father died and the same with the loss of Cole. But back then it barely affected her. Now it randomly appears in the night, causing her to toss and turn and even worse sometimes lose her appetite.

However, the anger and the sorrow are not the only things she feels. She... misses Root. There. She said it. Shaw knows if the hacker were to find out about that, she would never let her forget it. But then it sinks in that Root will never be able to hear her again, much less tease her about anything. Root is gone.

And with that, the cycle of emotions starts again for Sameen Shaw. Even that phrase, the _cycle of emotions_ , is new for her. She hates Root for causing these disgusting feelings to appear. It's been months since the accident. Samaritan is gone. As _she_  would put it, the American people gained and lost a god and yet most never even knew it existed. So I guess you could say, in the grand scheme of things, nothing had changed. But for Shaw, everything had changed.

**And now, enjoy the story;**

Shaw is walking away from her last number. He stands there, mouth open and pale as a ghost, rambling like a buffoon.

"What just happened? Is there any way to repay you? What's your name?" he calls out to her but she keeps walking away. After recent events, she's thrown herself into her work, saving two or three numbers a day. She gets the bare minimum of sleep, usually on trains or planes as she's going to rescue her next wealthy CEO who angered their assistant or her next unsuspecting chef who stumbled into a murder plot. As an added bonus, on transportation she's more likely to wake up from a random bump then from the nightmares.

Right now she's studying the file for her next POI on the train ride to New Jersey. His name is Martin Masters and he's a 25-year-old guitarist in a small band called _TECHnically Music_. Apparently, electronics play a big role in their band's performances but Shaw doesn't know how and she doesn't really care. She's just going in to save the poor bastard from whatever he got himself wrapped up in and get the hell out. Or shoot him in the kneecaps and let the local police deal with the aftermath. Either way, it's an in and out job. 

An indistinguishable gargle from the loudspeaker notifies Shaw that she's at her stop and a brisk 10-minute walk later she's at her hotel. She walks up to the concierge desk where a woman stands, smiling intensely. It's the kind of smile that looks almost borderline psycho. The kind of smile Ro- the kind of smile she's seen before.

"I just need my room key," Shaw grunts, keeping her head down to avoid looking at the woman radiating happiness.

"Alrighty then! Here you go, you'll be on floor five, room ten. This is a coupon for 20% off any restaurant here at the hotel. Over to your left is complimentary cucumber water and- HEY! Where are you going Miss?" the lady seems disturbed that her spiel was cut short but Shaw is already at the elevators. She would be fine to just stay in the cheapest motel, it's not like she sleeps much anymore anyway. But Harold or the machine, or both, keep insisting on putting her in these cushy hotels. She walks through the hallway and all of a sudden a sense of deja vu rolls over her. 

**\-----------Relevance** **\-----------**

After hanging up with Wilson, Shaw walks through the hallway with her guard up. She might regret being here, but she needs to find out about Aquino. Micheal deserves it. _Deserved_ it. She reaches room 1458 and pauses. There's still time to reconsider. She never questioned the numbers, she was fine with just killing whoever research told her to. Afterall, as far as she knew the numbers were never wrong. However, with her bosses trying to kill her and succeeding in killing Cole, she knows she really doesn't have a choice. With a sigh, she quickly knocks three times to announce her presence. A nervous looking woman opens the door.

"Hello Veronica," Shaw greets confidently.

The brunette woman is tall with legs that seem to stretch on infinitely, skinny as a stick to the point where it's concerning, but not unattractive, which leads to point number three, she's inarguably good looking. Shaw can definitely understand why Micheal fell hard for this girl.

"Come in," the woman says while letting Shaw enter.

"Any chance you were followed?" Shaw asks, walking deeper into the room. Veronica's eyes follow her until she's in the middle of the room and only then does she close the door.

"I don't think so, but I haven't been in the field since I was at the farm," she replies. "You're Sam right?" Shaw immediately tenses up at the use of Cole's nickname for her. It was something only he could use and even when _he_ used it she sometimes had to refrain from stabbing him with the nearest sharp object.

"Micheal talked about you," Veronica continues, "uh-I mean he didn't tell me what you guys do or anything but... he liked you. What happened to him?" Shaw can see the woman's questioning eyes and tries to decide how to answer. She's always been told that she doesn't have the greatest bedside manner. She figures this woman can take the truth, or part of it anyway. She just hopes there's no crying. She _hates_ crying.

"He was killed," Shaw says bluntly. Veronica's eyes open in shock. "On a mission," she continues. Shaw puts down her gun and takes off her coat after confirming the location is secure and notices that Veronica's eyes widen a little bit and sweep over her figure. Huh. Maybe she's into guys and girls. Shaw feels a little smug at this fact because of course, she would never go for anyone that was important to Micheal but the fact that she can gain this girl's interest within minutes doesn't hurt her ego. Of course, that's a horrible thought that she shouldn't be thinking only days after her partner was killed but she can't help it. She continues.

"The less you know about all of this, the safer you'll be. But I do need to know what he talked to you about," Shaw says while sitting down. Veronica sits down as well.

"Mike sent over details of uh-wire transfers to an engineer named Daniel Aquino," Veronica begins. Shaw leans forward, paying attention to every word hoping one of them will provide the answers she's looking for. "They appear to originate out of an account affiliated with Hezbollah but someone had electronically spoofed the transfers. I was able to track down the real originating accounts. They were out of the US government," Veronica speaks those last words with venom.

"Which part of the government?" Shaw asks. She has a guess as to which branch she thinks they're from, but she hopes she's wrong.

"A group out of the Pentagon called the Intelligence Support Activity," Veronica says plainly. Shaw lowers her head in concentration. Not only did her organization try to kill two of its best agents but it tried to kill them just for knowing about an innocent man they had framed. As if to rub salt in the wound, Veronica asks, "Have you heard of them?"

"You could say that. Up until yesterday, I worked for them," Shaw says bitterly. While she's upset she's also still choosing her words very carefully. The more this woman knows the more she's in danger.

"Their budget is confidential but it stretches back five years," she continues, seemingly getting more confident with her information. Shaw hears a faint banging noise from the background but Veronica keeps talking like she never heard it so Shaw figures it's a pipe noise or something. "Huge amounts coded to a project called _'Northern Lights'._ "

"What was the project?" Shaw asks, curiosity spiking at what could possibly be so important.

"I don't know. But Aquino was part of it." Veronica seems sure about this, circling back to the topic of Aquino. Shaw guesses he's important but she's much more interested in what the project is. "They built a facility of some kind coded as research but I can't find the names of anyone involved in the project," she speeds up a little towards the end as the banging catches Shaw's attention once more. It's getting louder and more frequent, something that sounds more human than mechanical.

"Mike said," the woman commented, trying to tear Sameen's attention away from the noise behind them, "Aquino told you the name of his contact in Northern Lights," Veronica searches her face, appearing to probe her thoughts looking for the answers she desired. Her tone becomes a little less nervous and scattered like she was in the beginning and instead takes on a determined, almost stubborn tone.

"Do you remember it?" Sinclair asks, almost begging for an answer now.

There it is again, that strange clanking noise.

"Stay here," Shaw instructs while grabbing her gun that she probably should've never put down in the first place, "And keep away from those windows." Veronica looks over at the bathroom door with a... desperate look on her face? Shaw doesn't know. She's never been good at reading people. Maybe she's scared? That would make more sense...

Shaw gets up, ready to protect Veronica if necessary, for Micheal's sake. But something still feels a little off about this whole situation. She goes to investigate the noise and finds a woman tied up in the bathroom. Her wrists are zip tied, her mouth is gagged and she's trying desperately to call out. This woman fits the same description as Veronica. Shaw's mind races as she puts all the pieces together and gets ready to swivel around and fight the imposter. Before she can even raise her weapon she feels a cool hand on her left arm and suddenly intense pain erupts, starting at her neck but quickly spreading through her entire body. She goes rigid and collapses to the ground, losing all control over her muscles. The only thing she _can_ control is the steady stream of curse words playing through her head at this mystery woman who managed to deceive her, but she can't even yell them at her because her mouth isn't responding.

"Veronica and I had a bit of a chat before you got here," the woman says, smiling like a maniac and picking up one of Sameen's arms to drag her. "She tried really really hard to remember anything else that could help me but she didn't know anything," the woman continues her rant, dropping Shaw's arm and it falls directly back to the ground. Her speech is animated now in stark contrast to the nervous act she had put on before. The nut job reaches down and grabs both of Shaw's arms, pulling her up. Sameen's whole body begins to itch with the need to somehow critically injure this woman. Shaw is lifted from the ground and violently thrown into the seat, only managing to grunt a little in the process. Her whole body is shaking, buzzing from the electricity.

"I've read your file and I'm kind of a big fan, so I really don't want to hurt you," the lady keeps up her almost childlike speech pattern. She's also unnecessarily touching Shaw. A lot. "I just need the name." Anger boils through her body along with the paralysis that's keeping her locked in the seat. This woman, whoever she is, zip ties her arms to the chair. Shaw reprimands herself. How could she be so foolish?? Cole's death does not give her room or reason to be sloppy.

"You really have no idea who you're dealing with," the crazy woman continues her one-sided conversation. As she continues in her condescending tone, Shaw finds herself hating her more and more every second, "Who you're actually working for. Did you honestly think the source of the numbers was Guantanamo? Some sad taxi driver rotting away in a cage somewhere?" She laughs at Shaw. She honest to god just _laughed_ at Sameen Shaw. Does this lady have a death wish?

"I mean you should know torture almost never produces good information," Shaw can sense the evil monologue is coming to a close with means the "fun" part is about to begin, "Well... almost never." She jumps off the desk and prances to another part of the room. Shaw, lacking even the basic function of turning her head, has to wait to see what she's doing. She hears the sizzle of something hot.

"Sadly, we are on a bit of clock," the lady informs her. Shaw glances at her and spots the iron in her hand. She groans inwardly. Irons hurt like a bitch and leave terrible scarring, not that she truly cares about either. More importantly, this method of torture can tell her a lot about the psychopath she's dealing with. This woman is most likely willing to take her time with the interrogation, experienced enough to know how to really make it hurt, and probably will not finish until she has her answers. 

"...Now," the woman says interrupting Shaw's thoughts. Shaw vaguely remembers her talking about Wilson looking for Veronica but she was distracted. She begins unzipping Shaw's jacket. "Aquino was hired to build a home for something very special. Something I want to find." The brunette is so close to Shaw that her arms are basically on Shaw's lap. She's right in front of Shaw's face, so she can do nothing but make direct eye contact. It's not the eye contact that bothers Shaw, it's the closeness of the situation. The woman picks up the iron again and holds it inches away from Shaw's neck.

"So you're going to tell me the name of his contact," she says like she's already won. Shaw feels a response bubbling to her lips and to her surprise her mouth actually obeys. 

"One of the things they left out of my file," she says, briefly gaining the power of the situation, "I kind of enjoy this sort of thing." She says this with her most smug, terror-inducing, apathetic face. The type of face that has made Secret Service boys wet themselves in the past. However, the bitch just chuckles softly. 

"I am so glad you said that. I do too," she smiles and leans closer to Shaw. Shaw clenches her jaw, preparing for the white-hot pain to flare against her neck. But then the phone rings. Shaw just glares as her captor gets up to check on the noise. 

"Ohh," she says, actually sounding disappointed, "And just when we were starting to really connect." The woman begins picking up her bag, coat, and a small handgun. Shaw, still unable to move, keeps up her stone cold glare. "We'll do this again soon!" Shaw hopes so. She really wouldn't pass up the opportunity to destroy this psycho if she could. The door closes and a few minutes later it reopens. In storm three agents, with her just sitting there paralyzed and tied up like a present under a fucking Christmas tree. She only knows one thing. When she gets out of here, and she _will_ get out of here, she will hunt that woman down.


End file.
